“the  sea  is  his  and  he  made  IT;” 

A DISCOURSE  BEFORE  THE 


Amepisan  SeameFi’s  PpiGnd  S©Giet\j, 


AT  ITS 


SIXTY-NINTH  ANNIVERSARY, 
Sunday,  May  9,  1897, 


Rev.  william  T.  SABINE,  D.  D., 

IN  THE 


FIRST  REFORMED  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK  CITY- 


AMERICAN  SEAMEN’S  FRIEND  SOCIETY, 

76  WALL  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 

1897. 


1828. 


m^ncait 


eamen  s 


1897 


OFFICERS  : 

JAMES  W.  ELWELL,  President. 


C.  A.  STODDARD,  D.D.,  Vice-President. 


W.  C.  STITT,  D.D.,  Secretary. 


Rev.  Edward  B.  Coe,  D.D  , LL.D., 
“ A.  G.  Vermilte,  D.D., 

“ Chas.  Cdthbert  Hall,  D.D., 
“ Norman  Fox,  D.D., 


WM.  C.  STURGES,  Treasurer. 

Trustees : 

D.,  Enos  N.  Taft, 

Chas,  K.  Wallace, 


A.  G.  Agnew, 
Daniel  Barnes, 
Samit:l  Rowland, 
Geo.  Bell, 

W.  Hall  Ropes, 
Edgar  L.  Marston. 


John  Dwight, 
W.  I.  Comes, 


Capt.  David  Gillespie, 
Wm.  E.  Stiger, 


Elbert  A.  Brinckerhoff, 
Frederick  Sturges, 


There  are  about  three  million  seamen  afloat.  The  American 
Seamen’s  Friend  Society  aims  to  do  them  good. 

It  gives  annual  aid  to  chaplains  laboring  in  their  behalf,  in  16  for- 
eign and  19  domestic  ports. 

It  places  loan  libraries  for  seamen’s  use  on  American  vessels  leaving 
the  port  of  New  York.  Up  to  April  1,  1897,  10,379  libraries  have 
been  sent  to  sea;  counting  reshipments,  about  two  libraries  for  every 
working  day  for  thirty-nine  years. 

It  provides  a Sailors’  Home  at  190  Cherry  Street,  New  York,  where 
seamen  can  board  and  be  comparatively  protected  from  vicious  sur- 
roundings, and  where  shipwrecked  and  destitute  sailors  are  cared  for. 

It  publishes  the  Sailors’  Magazine  for  the  friends  of  seamen, 
the  Life  Boat  for  Sunday  Schools,  and  the  Seamen’s  Friend  for 
seamen. 

It  distributes  on  vessels  the  publications  of  the  American  Bible 
Society  and  the  American  Tract  Society. 

Through  its  agents  and  efforts  sailors  are  befriended,  helped  and 
blessed.  The  record  of  its  work  in  all  the  years  of  its  existence  has 
cheered  both  the  philanthropist  and  Christian. 

Sample  copies  of  the  Sailors’  Magazine  (one  dollar  per  annum) 
and  copies  of  the  Annual  Report  sent  free  to  any  address. 

Churches  are  requested  to  take  an  annual  collection  for  this  work, 
and  to  send  it  to  the  Treasurer,  at  No.  76  Wall  Street,  New  York. 
Publications  containing  facts  for  sermons  will  be  sent  to  pastors  on 
application.  Annual  contributions  from  individuals  are  solicited. 


SERMON. 


V'olceless,  yet  voicefiil,  amid  the  roar  and  din  of  an  endless  traffic, 
the  inspired  and  golden  legend  inscribed  across  the  facade  of  the  Royal 
Exchange  in  the  very  heart  of  busy  London  proclaims  “ The  earth  is 
the  Lord’s  and  the  fullness  thereof.”  Our  text  claims  the  sea  also  for 
God.  Our  gathering  together  here  to-day,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Amekicak  Seamex’s  Friexd  Society,  is  in  recognition,  assertion 
and  furtherance  of  this  claim. 

“ The  ocean  old, 

Centuries  old, 

Strong  as  youth  and  as  uncontrolled,” 

is  an  object  of  interest  to  us  all.  Some  of  us  love  it,  some  of  us  dread 
it,  many  of  us  wonder  at  it ; who  of  us  can  claim  to  be  quite  indiff- 
erent to  its  dangers  and  its  charms  ? Its  shores,  its  waves,  its  storms, 
its  calms,  its  skies,  its  depths,  its  tales,  have  they  not  a marvellous 
fascination  for  multitudes  of  men  ? With  what  joy  have  we  trodden 
its  beaches  ! With  what  delight  watched  its  crested  and  inrolling 
surf  as  it  breaks  in  foam  and  thunder  on  the  sands,  or  sweeps  over 
them  in  curves  of  graceful  beauty  ! What  consciousness  of  littleness, 
awe  and  loneliness  has  not  stolen  over  our  spirits  as  we  have  looked 
out  over  its  wild  wastes  of  waters,  nor  shore  nor  sail  in  sight,  only 
around  us  the  old  gray  sea,  only  above  us  the  cold  gray  sky  ! What 
sense  of  health  and  invigoration  have  we  not  drawn  from  its  salt-laden 
breezes  on  some  bright  day,  every  breath  an  elixir  of  life  ! And  what 
strange  bewitchment  have  we  found  in  its  quaint  and  thrilling  stories 
of  danger  and  adventure,  like  Longfellow’s  trembling  maiden  holding 
her  breath 

“ At  the  tales  of  that  awful  pitiless  sea 
With  all  its  terror  and  mystery, 

The  dim  dark  sea  so  like  unto  Death 
That  divides  and  yet  unites  mankind ! ” 

To  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  the  sea  appeals  : the  Statesman, 
who  has  learned  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  “ Sea- Power,”  who  covets 
for  his  country  a great  place  among  the  nations,  who  knows  that  Eng- 


4 


land’s  boast,  “ Brittania  rules  the  waves,”  has  many  a time  proved  no 
idle  word,  and  that  the  dominion  of  the  sea  carries  with  it,  how  often, 
the  dominion  of  the  land;  will  never  be  indifferent  to  the  sea,  or  the 
power  and  influence  his  country  wields  upon  it  through  its  navy  and 
merchant  marine. 

To  the  Merchant  and  Importer,  the  success  of  whose  ventures  and 
enterprise  so  largely  depends  upon  the  moods  of  the  ocean,  and  the 
movements  and  safety  of  the  ships  speeding  over  its  bosom,  the  world 
of  waters  cannot  be  other  than  an  object  of  constant  interest  and 
solicitude. 

The  man  of  Science  flnds  in  the  sea,  with  its  bottoms,  shores  and 
depths,  with  its  aquatic  birds  and  fish,  algae,  shells  and  currents,  with 
its  ever  varying  conditions,  with  its  living  creatures,  many  of  them 
strange  and  beautiful,  some  of  them  hideous,  repulsive  and  terrible, 
all  of  them  marvellous  in  adaptation  and  construction,  and  every  one 
of  them,  whether  he  take  note  of  it  or  not,  witnessing  to  the  power 
and  the  wisdom  of  God,  an  endless  field  for  the  exercise  of  his 
acutest  faculties  in  study  and  research. 

And  our  Artists — do  they  not  love  the  ocean?  many  of  them  giving 
a lifetime  to  the  study  and  depicting  of  the  beauties  of  its  shores  and 
surf  and  ever  fitful  moods. 

And  the  Sailor!  with  all  the  hardships,  dangers  and  privations  of 
his  roving  life — he  libels  him  who  says  he  does  not  love  the  sea! 

And  the  Fisherman,  gaining  his  livelihood  with  line  and  seine  along 
the  shores,  or  drawing  it  from  deeper  waters,  absent  for  days  or 
weeks  together  from  the  humble  cottage  on  the  beach — will  you  assert 
that  Ae  has  no  concern  about  the  sea? 

And  the  wives  and  the  mothers  and  the  sisters  and  the  little  child- 
ren who  stand  looking  seaward,  watching  earnestly  with  straining 
eyes  for  the  first  signs  in  the  oflBug  of  the  returning  fleet,  and  whose 
hearts  sink  within  them  as  the  autumn  blast  howls  over  the  deep  and 
rattles  on  the  window  pane;  sink  within  them  at  the  thought  of  hus- 
band, father,  brother,  son  not  yet  returned  and  struggling  with  the 
fierceness  of  the  storm — can  we  think  that  such  as  these  have  no  in- 
terest in  the  old  gray  sea,  so  beautiful  and  yet  many  a time  so  treacher- 
ous? 

Yes,  and  the  thousands  upon  thousands  to  whom  the  thought  will 
come,  as  they  look  out  upon  the  wide  expanse  of  waters,  that  some- 
where they  hold  in  their  dark  bosom  uncoflined  forms;  forms  and 
faces  dear  to  them;  forms  and  faces  on  which  they  will  never  look 


5 


again  until  the  sea,  obedient  to  the  word  of  its  Creator,  shall  give  up 
its  dead, — is  it  thinkable  of  such  as  these  that  they  have  no  concern 
whatever  in  nor  ever  have  a thought  about  the  great,  wide  sea  whose 
depths  enshrine  their  precious  dead? 

True,  there  are  millions,  many  of  them  living  in  the  heart  of  great 
continents,  who  never  saw,  will  never  see,  who  never  read  nor  perhaps 
ever  heard  of  the  existence,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ministry  and  won- 
ders, of  the  sea;  and  others,  who,  having  seen  and  heard,  have  scarcely 
spared  for  it  a thought,  who  are  yet  indebted  beyond  telling  to  the 
sea;  into  whose  homes  and  life  and  to  whose  tables  the  ships,  speed- 
ing over  its  bosom,  have  brought  many  a thing  of  use  and  beauty, 
comfort,  healing,  luxury,  refreshment  and  adorning,  which,  being 
absent,  might  be  sorely  missed. 

There  are  savage  interior  tribes  who  owe  the  beauties  of  their  forests 
and  the  fertility  of  wide-stretching  plains  to  rain- laden  clouds  which 
come  sailing  up  over  the  inland  landscape  charged  with  blessings  of 
moisture  by  distant  oceans  which  they  never  saw  and  of  whose  exist- 
ence they  never  even  dreamed. 

And  there  are  great  internal  areas,  sometimes  famine -stricken,  whose 
perishing  millions  may  little  realize  that  their  burnt-out  and  sun- 
scorched  soil,  in  which  no  green  thing  grows,  is  to  be  traced  to  the 
failure  of  the  gracious  ministry  of  some  far-off  sea!  So  true  it  is  that 
“ all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ” are  somehow  concerned  with  the  sea; 
for  where  are  they  who  have  not  in  it  somewhere  investment  of  inter- 
est, anxiety,  wealth,  affection,  support,  comfort,  adventure,  sorrowful 
or  joyous  memories?  This  being  so,  a Society  like  that  at  whose  call 
we  are  assembled,  should  have  a great  and  interested  constituency. 

And  if  the  sea  may  say  to  all  these  myriads  of  men,  “Ye  are  con- 
cerned with  me  and  my  ministry  of  wind  and  wave,  vapor  and  tide, 
and  cloud  and  storm,  your  health,  your  life,  your  business  prosperity, 
comforts,  joys  and  griefs,  not  least  may  it  claim  the  thought  and  in- 
terest of  “all  those  who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians,”  ser- 
vants and  followers  and  heirs  of  Him  of  whom  the  Psalmist  wrote, 
“ The  sea  is  His  and  He  made  it,”  of  Him  who  walked  the  shores  and 
sailed  the  waters  of  Galilee. 

For  such — and  such  those  of  us  who  assemble  here  to  day  at  the 
call  of  this  Society  may  be  assumed  to  be — the  Psalmist’s  word  must 
ever  have  its  own  appropriate  significance,  implying,  as  it  does,  both 
a disclosure  of  God  and  a call  to  special  service  in  His  name. 

In  the  sea  God  makes  a revelation  of  Himself  which  His  servants 


6 


will  be  quick  to  discern — and  how  should  it  be  otherwise,  seeing  that 
“He  MADE  it!”  The  thing  made  proclaims  its  maker;  the  work 
done  declares  not  merely  a doer,  but  the  doer  who  did  it.  The  intel- 
ligent and  interested  worker  builds  himself  into  his  work,  puts  into  it 
by  virtue  of  his  distinctive  personality  a subtle  something  which  dif- 
ferentiates it  from  the  work  of  every  other  hand,  which  labels  it  as  his 
and  not  another’s. 

You  are  an  adept  in  art.  You  do  not  hesitate  to  attribute  these 
canvasses,  though  they  treat  of  similar  subjects,  the  first  to  Eaphael, 
the  second  to  Correggio,  and  the  third  to  Murillo.  Your  are  a musi- 
cian, and  as  the  organ  peals  forth  its  splendid  swell  of  harmonies,  you 
recognize  in  the  compositions  presented,  the  touch  of  Beethoven,  the 
strains  of  Mozart,  or  the  melodies  of  Haydn.  You  are  something  of 
a reader,  and  when  unnamed  passages  of  Milton,  Wordsworth,  Long- 
fellow, Shakespeare,  Bacon,  Addison,  or  Motley  are  put  into  your 
hand,  and  you  are  asked  to  distinguish  their  authorship,  you  do  not 
hesitate  ; familiarity  with  their  respective  styles  at  once  discloses  it ; 
so  truly  is  the  artist’s,  the  musician’s,  the  writer’s,  yes,  every  true 
workman’s  way  his  own  and  not  another’s. 

It  is  truth  most  familiar  that  nature  speaks  everywhere  of  God,  for 
God.  Eecall  that  wonderfully  beautiful  apostrophe  of  Coleridge  to 
the  glaciers  of  Mont  Blanc  : 

“ Ye  ice  falls  1 Ye  that  from  the  mountain’s  brow 
Adown  enormous  ravines  slope  amain. 

Torrents  methinks  that  heard  a mighty  voice 
And  stopped  at  once  amid  their  maddest  plunge. 

Motionless  torrents  I Silent  cataracts  I 
Who  made  you  glorious  as  the  gates  of  heaven 
Beneath  the  keen,  full  moon?  Who  bade  the  sun 
Clothe  you  with  rainbows?  Who  with  living  flowers 
Of  loveliest  blue  spread  garlands  at  your  feet? 

God!  Let  the  torrents  like  a shout  of  nations 
Answer!  and  let  the  ice  plains  echo,  God! 

God!  Sing,  ye  meadow  springs,  with  gladsome  voice. 

Ye  pine  groves  with  your  soft  and  soul-like  sounds; 

And  they  too  have  a voice,  yon  piles  of  snow. 

And  in  their  perilous  fall  shall  thunder  Ood  1 
Ye  living  flowers  that  skirt  the  eternal  frosts. 

Ye  wild  goats  sporting  round  the  eagle’s  nest! 

Ye  eagles,  playmates  of  the  mountain  storm! 

Ye  lightnings,  the  dread  arrows  of  the  clouds! 

Ye  signs  and  wonders  of  the  elements! 

Utter  forth  Qodl  and  All  the  hills  with  praise!  ” 


7 


Thus  God’s  works,  like  man’s,  are  evermore  a disclosure  of  Him- 
self. So  Milton  : 

“ Unspeakable!  Who  sittest  above  these  heavens, 

To  us  invisible  or  dimly  seen 

In  these  thy  lowest  works — yet  these  declare 

Thy  goodness  beyond  thought!  and  power  divine!  ” 

So  Paul : “ For  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead.” 

And  the  sea  ! Who  made  it  ? The  Psalmist  answers  out  of  the  far 
past.  He  made  it ! Its  boundless  reaches  tell  of  Him  who  is  the  un- 
confined, the  illimitable  One  ; its  heaving  tides  and  ceaseless  currents 
and  waters  never  still,  of  Him  who  is  the  ever-living  and  life-giving 
One  ; its  mighty  depths  of  Him  whose  “ judgments  are  a great  deep  ; ” 
its  endless  coast-lines  and  boundary-shores, — placed  “for  the  bound  of 
the  sea  by  a perpetual  decree  that  it  cannot  pass  it  : and  though  the 
waves  thereof  toss  themselves  yet  can  they  not  prevail,  though  they 
roar,  yet  can  they  not  pass  over  it,” — of  Him  who  is  at  once  the  great 
law-giver  and  law-keeper  of  the  universe ; its  wonderful  beauties, 
cleansing  tides  and  marvellous  helpfulness  to  men,  of  Him  who  is  the 
infinitely  good  and  gracious  One ; its  punctual,  ceaseless  flowings, 
never  in  excess  and  never  in  defect,  never  a moment  early  and  never 
a moment  late,  of  Him  who  is  the  God  of  truth  and  order,  whose  word 
and  promise  cannot  fail ; its  majestic  expanses,  its  maelstroms  and 
waterspouts  and  terrific  storms,  before  whose  fury  man  is  helpless,  of 
Him  whose  might  is  irresistible.  So  Byron  sang  : 

“ Thou  glorious  mirror  where  the  Almighty’s  form 
Glasses  itself  iu  tempests:  in  all  time, 

Calm  or  convulsed,  in  breeze,  or  gale,  or  storm; 

Icing  the  pole  or  in  the  torrid  clime ; 

Dark  heaving;  boundless,  endless  and  sublime. 

The  image  of  eternity;  the  throne 
Of  the  Invisible:  even  from  out  thy  slime 
The  monsters  of  the  deep  are  made; 

Each  zone  obeys  thee ; 

Thou  goest  forth  dread,  fathomless,  alone ! ” 

Pity  the  man  who  treads  the  shore,  who  sails  the  ocean,  who,  in  the 
name  of  science,  studies  the  sea,  its  fish,  its  shells,  its  tides,  its  flora, 
yet  hears  not  God’s  name  in  the  music  of  the  waves  or  the  awful  roar 
of  the  tempest,  nor  ever  spells  it  out  among  the  stars  that  look 


8 


down  so  quietly  and  silently  upon  the  waste  of  tossing  waters ; nor 
seems  to  see  it  written  in  flaming,  gleaming  light  across  the  eastern 
and  the  western  sky  as  the  sun  rises  slowly  out  of,  or  sinks  majesti- 
cally below  the  sea ; nor  ever  worships  Him  ! 

Ours  is  the  high  and  holy  privilege  of  reverent  adoration  as  we  find 
ourselves  surrounded  by  these  impressive  evidences  of  the  divine  pres- 
ence and  power,  and  realize  that  “ He  made  it,”  this  overarching 
heaven,  this  broad  expanse  of  sea.  And  some  of  us,  as  we  recall  some 
hour  of  peril  on  the  deep,  when  we  were  face  to  face  with  shipwreck, 
and  understood  as  never  before  that  only  a few  inches  of  plank  were 
between  us  and  a watery  grave,  and  that  all  of  help  and  hope  we  had 
was  in  the  power  and  grace  of  Him  who  rules  the  waves,  are  ready  to 
say  with  Joseph  Addison  : 


“ Think,  0 my  soul,  devoutly  think 
How  with  affrighted  eyes 
Thou  saw’st  the  wide-extended  deep 
In  all  its  horrors  rise! 

“ Confusion  dwelt  on  every  face 
And  fear  in  every  heart 
When  waves  on  waves  and  gulfs  on  gulfs 
O’ereame  the  pilot’s  art. 


“ Yet  then  from  all  my  griefs,  0 Lord, 
Thy  mercy  set  me  free. 

Whilst  in  the  confidence  of  prayer 
My  soul  took  hold  on  Thee. 

“ The  storm  was  laid,  the  winds  retired 
Obedient  to  Thy  will. 

The  sea  that  roared  at  Thy  command. 
At  Thy  command  was  still. 


“ In  midst  of  dangers,  fears  and  death 
Thy  goodness  I’ll  adore — 

And  praise  Thee  for  Thy  mercies  past. 
And  humbly  hope  for  more.” 


The  Psalmist  affirms  that  God  is  the  maker  of  the  sea — “He  made 
it” — an  affirmation  which  carries  with  it  the  inference  that  the  sea  is 
in  some  sort  a revelation  of  God.  He  also  asserts  a divine  ownership 
of  the  sea.  He  broadly  claims  the  ocean  for  God — “the  sea  is  His!  ” 
It  is  all  His,  all  in  it  His,  all  on  it  IlisI  From  pole  to  pole,  from 
continent  to  continent,  from  island  to  island,  it  is  His!  Every  shore 
of  it  His,  every  fish  in  it  His,  every  drop  of  it  His,  every  rock  and 
shoal  and  bottom  in  it  His,  and  not  least  the  millions  of  our  fellow- 
men  and  women  who  for  gain  or  pleasure  sail  and  steam  over  its  broad 
bosom  in  ships  of  every  fiag;  His,  and  that  in  virtue  of  a double  claim, 
the  right  of  creation  and  the  right  of  redemption. 

The  existence  of  this  Society  and  the  gracious  and  beneficent  work  it 
has  been  permitted  to  accomplish  in  the  years  gone  by  are  at  once  a 
recognition  and  an  assertion  of  that  claim.  It  builds  upon  the  truth, 
“the  sea  is  His.”  The  labors  of  every  missionary  in  its  employ  rest 


0 


upon  it.  Every  tract  that  it  offers,  every  visit  that  its  agents  pay, 
every  library  that  it  puts  on  shipboard,  every  appeal  for  money  to 
carry  on  its  work  proceeds  on  this  high  ground. 

Its  noble  and  holy  function  is  “ to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God,”  and  this  to  the  men  of  the  sea;  not  to  the  ocean  currents,  for 
what  ocean  current  ever  deviated  from  the  path  marked  out  for  it  by 
he  hnger  of  God?  Not  to  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  for  when  did  they 
ever  violate  the  great  laws  of  their  being?  Not  to  the  petrel,  or  the 
swift  winged  gull  or  the  wild  fowl,  gaining  a living  in  the  salty  marsh 
and  along  the  shore,  or  loving  to  rest  on  the  restless  wave,  for  these 
need  it  not;  but  to  men,  intelligent,  immortal  men,  gifted  in  noblest 
capacities  of  service  and  enjoyment  and  undying  life;  for  these,  alas, 
men  of  the  sea  as  well  as  men  of  the  land,  are  they  who  have  lapsed 
into  disharmony  with  God,  and  so  fallen  out  of  righteousness  and 
peace,  and  into  weakness,  wickedness,  loss,  and  suffering;  and  these 
are  they  who  need  to  be  redeemed  and  won  back  to  God  and  righteous- 
ness and  peace. 

Christ’s  parting  word  to  His  disciples  was  “ Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.”  He  claimed  all  men  as  the 
objects  of  His  mercy;  none  were  too  great,  none  too  insignificant  to 
be  the  subjects  of  His  grace.  His  religion  was  imperial,  it  knew  no 
rival.  It  is  exclusive,  it  is  intolerant  of  every  other  faith.  Its  clarion 
cry  is  “ There  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men 
whereby  we  must  be  saved.”  It  is  the  blessed  function  of  this  Society 
to  offer  His  distinctive  gospel  to  the  sailors  of  all  seas,  as  men  and 
means  are  at  its  call.  It  is  not  merely  the  American  Seamen’s 
Friend  Society,  the  friend  of  American  seamen — no  indeed — but  far 
more  than  that — the  friend  of  seamen  of  every  nationality;  the  Amer- 
ican friend  of  seamen.  It  is  on  the  basis  of  this  great  command,  “ Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,”  that  we  build  up  great  mission  enterprises,  vindicate 
the  sacrifice  of  precious  lives,  and  justify  the  expenditure  of  millions  of 
money  on  all  the  continents.  And  is  then  the  soul  of  the  man  afloat  any 
less  precious  than  the  soul  of  the  man  ashore?  No,  my  friends,  it  is  not! 
And  this  Society  stands  to-day  with  finger  pointing  seaward  to  say. 
Behold!  One  of  the  broadest,  grandest,  neediest,  and  most  hopeful 
of  all  the  world’s  mission-fields,  magnificent  in  its  expanses,  for  the 
waters  of  the  lakes  and  oceans  cover  three- fourths  of  the  surface  of  the 
globe;  mighty  in  its  populations,  for  what  with  the  men  whose  busi- 
ness is  occupied  in  these  great  waters,  in  the  navies,  in  the  fisheries, 
in  the  merchant  service,  in  the  coasting  trades,  in  the  passenger  traffic 


10 


of  the  world,  the  citizenship  of  the  sea  runs  up  into  the  millions,  and, 
though  sparsely  peopled  when  compared  with  the  thickly  settled  states 
and  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  probably  outnumbering  the  populations 
of  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  surpassing  that  of 
the  city  of  London. 

If  the  capital  of  Great  Britain  had  never  heard  the  message  of  God’s 
grace  in  the  gospel,  what  heart  that  beats  true  to  Christ  and  has  not 
yet  learned  amid  flooding  unbeliefs  to  tamper  with  the  essential  veri- 
ties of  His  faith,  but  would  be  for  hurrying  forward  with  all  speed 
the  tidings  of  divine  love  and  mercy  to  the  millions  thus  “ sitting  in 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death?” 

And  again  we  ask,  is  the  soul  of  the  man  afloat  any  less  precious 
than  the  soul  of  the  man  ashore?  Where  did  we  learn  that?  To  what 
verse  in  this  Book  can  we  point  to  prove  that?  With  what  word  of 
the  Lord  will  you  verify  that?  Do  we  believe  that  He  who  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  who  turned  a boat  into  a pulpit,  who  loved  the 
shores  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  and  chose  His  apostles  from  among  its 
fishermen,  cared  more  for  the  men  of  the  land  that  He  cares  for  the 
men  of  the  sea?  Do  we  think  that  when  he  said  “ Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,”  He  meant  Gaul  and  Britain  and  Rome  and  Persia,  but  had 
never  a thought  for  the  sea?  Is  the  sin  of  the  sailor  any  less  heinous, 
any  less  ruinous  and  fatal  to  the  soul,  than  your  sins  and  mine?  Is 
“the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  that  cleanseth  away  all  sin” 
any  less  essential  and  availing  for  him  than  it  is  essential  and  availing 
for  you  and  for  me?  Are  the  temptations  of  the  sailor  any  less  Gerce 
and  seductive  than  those  of  other  men  as  he  steps  ashore  at  some 
strange  seaport  to  find  himself  surrounded  by  a swarm  of  land-sharks, 
more  cruel  and  greedy  than  the  sharks  of  the  sea,  agents  of  the  saloon, 
the  brothel  and  the  gambling  hell,  emissaries  of  the  devil,  awaiting 
him  at  every  turn,  and  hungry  to  devour  not  alone  his  hard-earned 
money,  but  worse,  his  manly  vigor,  his  bodily  health,  the  peace  of 
his  conscience  and  his  immortal  soul! 

Of  a generous,  confiding,  unsuspicious  nature,  such  a nature  as  too 
often  falls  an  easy  prey;  unguarded  and  alone,  or  surrounded  by  evil 
companionships;  mother  and  wife  and  children,  if  he  has  any,  and  the 
blessed  restraints  of  a decent  social  life  far,  far  away;  has  the  sailor 
less  need  than  others  of  the  curb  of  a holy  religion,  of  the  tremendous 
warnings  and  sweet  encouragements  of  the  Word  of  God,  of  the  hopes 
and  alarms  which  might  inspire  him  to  the  right  and  deter  him  from 
the  wrong,  while  the  syren  voices  of  hell,  with  every  fascination,  seek 


11 


to  lure  him  from  the  paths  of  righteousness  and  peace?  Has  this 
sailor-brother  of  ours,  thus  tempted,  thus  beset,  any  less  need  of  the 
gracious  and  wholesome  restraint  of  a Christian  conscience,  enlight- 
ened by  the  Spirit  of  God,  than  the  rest  of  us? 

Remember,  the  sailor  is  our  representative.  He  stands  for  our 
civilization,  he  represents  our  Christianity,  as  many  a time  no  other 
can  or  does  in  foreign  ports.  You  demand,  by  what  right,  on  whose 
commission?  We  answer,  by  no  formal  appointment  of  anybody,  but 
simply  by  virtue  of  circumstances  and  as  an  actual  fact.  A French- 
man, an  Englishman,  an  Italian,  an  American  he  enters  some  foreign 
port.  Hailing  from  a nominally  Christian  land,  the  people  of  the  for- 
eign port  accept  him  naturally  enough  as  a specimen  product  of  the 
land  from  which  he  hails,  and  accredit  him  as  representing  its  faith 
and  social  life.  But  what  if  he  be  a profane  sailor,  a drunken  sailor, 
a libertine  sailor?  Missionaries  in  the  East  have  testified  that  many 
a time  the  vices  and  debaucheries  of  Europeans  and  Americans,  seem- 
ing to  the  natives  to  stand  for  western  civilization  and  Christian  faith, 
have  proved  unspeakable  hindrances  to  their  holy  and  beneficent  work. 
Poor  tempted  Jack  is  by  no  means  the  only  transgressor  in  this  respect 
— very  far  from  it!  But  too  often  he  has  been  such  a transgressor, 
and  as  far  as  he  is  so  are  we  willing  that  he  should  stand  for  our  coun- 
try, our  institutions,  our  religion  and  social  life?  The  Lord  forbid  it! 
No,  a thousand  times  no!  Then  let  us,  through  noble  agencies  like 
that  in  whose  behalf  we  speak  to-day,  seek  by  the  grace  of  God  to 
Christianize  “Jack!” 

It  is  the  glory  of  our  Lord  that  He  is  “ Christus  Consolator  ” and 
that  His  faith  is  the  best,  the  only  really  effective  panacea  for 
all  human  ills;  that  it  stanches  the  wounds  and  dries  the  tears  of 
humanity  as  no  other  religion,  no  science,  no  philosophy  ever  can 
or  ever  will.  Now,  if  there  is  a class  of  men  on  the  globe  who 
need  the  consolations  and  comforts  of  our  holy  faith,  it  is  the  sailor 
whose  home  is  the  restless,  boundless  sea;  the  sailor  who  is  cut  off 
from  a thousand  resources  of  information,  recreation,  improvement 
and  endeavor  which  are  open  to  the  man  ashore;  the  sailor  on  whose 
ear  the  prattle  of  children  seldom  falls  and  whose  life  is  rarely  bright- 
ened by  their  sunny  smiles;  the  sailor  deprived  for  months  and  years 
at  a time  of  the  blessed  ministries  of  wife,  mother,  sister,  daughter; 
the  sailor  who  must  comfront  disease  in  foreign  hospitals,  danger  and 
death  in  appalling  forms  on  the  stormy  sea,  and  who  realizes  his  perils 
as  keenly  as  you  and  I do  ours;  the  sailor  who  many  a time  must 


12 


think  how  his  may  be  an  unmarked  and  nameless  grave  upon  some 
lonely  coast,  or  an  unknown  resting  on  some  deep,  dark  sea-bottom, 
whither  no  dear  one  will  ever  come,  and  where  no  gentle  hand  will 
ever  lay  the  tribute  of  its  love. 

And  as  there  is  no  man  who  more  needs,  so  there  is  no  man  who  is 
more  open  to  the  ministry  of  faith,  and  having  once  received,  better 
appreciates  and  improves  it.  The  generousness  and  freedom  of  his 
nature,  the  exigencies  of  his  condition,  its  privations,  dangers,  isola- 
tions, open  his  ear  and  heart,  and  make  him  peculiarly  susceptible  to 
its  appeal.  It  is  easy  to  preach  to  the  sailor,  for  beyond  most  men  he  is 
unsophisticated,  candid  and  ready  to  receive  the  truth.  And  our 
Christian  sailor  is  wont  to  be  a Christian  of  the  up-and-down,  out- 
and-out  sort,  who  never  mumbles  his  confession  and  is  never  ashamed 
of  his  creed,  the  flag  under  which  he  sails,  the  banner  of  the  cross. 
Christ  wants  the  sailor,  and  the  sailor  needs  Christ,  and  the  sailor  is 
a man  worth  the  saving. 

What  do  we  owe  the  sailor?  Owe  him  for  our  civilization,  owe 
own  him  for  a thousand  of  the  comforts  and  adornments  that  enrich 
our  homes,  owe  him  for  our  pleasures,  owe  him  for  many  things 
that  have  come  to  be  almost  necessities  of  our  existence,  owe  him 
for  commercial  prosperity,  owe  him  for  our  intercourse  with  other 
peoples,  owe  him  for  the  stimulus  which  his  daring  and  endurance 
impart  to  the  manifold  activities  of  great  populations,  owe  him  for 
his  venture,  his  patience,  his  bravery,  his  skill  in  the  navigation  of 
the  seas?  What  do  we  owe  the  sailor?  Who  can  tell?  For  one,  I. 
cannot,  nor  will  I try.  It  is  a great  debt! — a debt  we  can  only  pay 
by  securing  to  him  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  the  best  thing  in  all  the 
world,  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  with  its  pardon  for  sin,  its 
restraint  in  temptation,  its  joys,  its  consolations,  its  incentives  to 
duty,  its  strength  in  life,  its  peace  in  death,  and  the  assurance  of  an 
abiding  place  in  that  dear,  dear  country  where,  having  for  the  last 
time  stepped  ashore,  the  wanderer  of  the  trackless  deep  shall  find  a 
home  forever,  for  of  that  land  it  is  written  “and  there  was  no  more 
sea!  ” 

Paul  wrote  to  the  lioinans:  “ I am  a debtor  both  to  the  Greeks  and 
to  the  barbarians,  both  to  the  wise  an  to  the  unwise,  so  as  much  as  in 
me  is  I am  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you  that  are  at  Rome  also.” 
Let  us  also  say  to  these  men  of  the  ship  and  the  mast,  the  compass, 
the  engine,  the  net  and  the  oar,  “ Your  debtors  we  are,  and  so  much 
as  in  us  lies  we  are  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you  that  are  on  the 
seas  also.” 


